Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 17:02:10 -0500
From: David B. O'Donnell
To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS
Subject: Homophobe UWM Prof Scapegoats Gays and Lesbians
[ Send all responses to Bob.Sillyheimer@MIXCOM.COM only. Any responses
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HOMOPHOBE PROFESSOR SCAPEGOATS GAYS & LESBIANS
A local homophobe at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is
scapegoating gays for the failure of the university to approve a
program he has proposed. In the past he has not only attacked
gay/lesbian studies, but also African and Women's studies. The
current attack is in the story immediately below. His first
attack in in a story that follows, and finally, there is a
letter-to-the-editor in which he sneers at the program.
You are invited to forward your opinion to this person.
Professor David D. Mulroy, Department of Classics and Hebrew
Studies
Curtin Hall, University of Wisconsin
PO Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Voice (414) 229-4433
MILWAUKEE STORY of NOV 18, 1994
UWM nixes proposed program
'Great Books' shelved
By JEFF COLE Sentinel staff writer [Milwaukee Sentinel, 11/18/94]
The same committee that launched gay and lesbian studies at
the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee has shelved a "Great
Books" program incorporating works of Plato and Shakespeare.
Those authors are too Western, the professor who proposed the
program said he was told.
The panel -- the College of Arts & Science's Course and
Curriculum Committee -- voted last March to offer a certificate
on gay and lesbian studies, said David D. Mulroy, an associate
professor of the classics at UWM.
Mulroy was one of 23 professors at UWM who proposed the
"Great Books" program to the committee.
Monday, the committee voted, 3-2, to reject the program. The
committee chairman abstained. There are 12 members on the
committee - nine faculty and three student members. The three
students and three of the faculty members did not attend the
meeting.
None of the five professors who voted could be reached for
comment Thursday.
The problem with the proposed program was with the way its
certificate program was structured, said Mark Schwartz,
associate professor of geography and committee chairman.
Schwartz cited three problems with the proposal: The format
was unclear; there was no provision for a faculty advisory
committee; and the program's title wasn't specific enough.
"The program was called 'Great Books,'" Schwartz said. "But,
most of the authors to be used were from Western culture. There
was a feeling that if the name was changed to say something like
'Great Books of Western Culture,' it would have been better.
"We have made such suggestions with other programs. For
instance, a program that was brought to us earlier this year was
entitled 'Human Sexuality.' When it became clear it was only
concerned with gay and lesbian sexuality, we insisted that the
name be changed."
That course became the gay and lesbian studies program, which
began this fall.
UWM is one of a few schools in the nation, including Cornell
University and City University of New York, to offer gay and
lesbian studies.
Schwartz said he hopes the "Great Books" program is brought
back before the committee.
Mulroy said he is mystified by Schwartz's statements, because
paperwork for the proposed program was completed several weeks
before the meeting. There was enough time to address those
concerns before the vote, he said.
The idea behind the program was to give students in the
College of Arts & Sciences a chance to study the basic sources
for their majors, Mulroy said.
For example, a political science major might study the
writings of Thomas Jefferson and John Locke, instead of just
reading about them in a textbook, Mulroy said.
The "Great Books" syllabus was only one part of the program,
Mulroy added. In order to earn a certificate in "Great Books," a
student would have been required to take courses in both
intermediate math and a foreign language, and upper-level
courses in either math or a foreign language.
The reason most of the books that would have been required
reading are Western in origin is because there is more source
material on Western civilization, Mulroy said, He added that
there never was any intention to limit the readings to Western
authors.
Certificate programs are interdisciplinary programs that
usually require earning between 20 and 40 credits. ##30##
[Original Milwaukee Sentinel story on the Gay and Lesbian
Studies program]
UWM Panel OKs gay studies program
Supporter says move 'validates' existence of campus homosexuals
by Dan Parks, Sentinel staff writer [Milwaukee Sentinel 02/23/94]
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee plans to start an
undergraduate gay and lesbian studies program this fall.
Only a handful of universities in the nation have a
concentrated field of study on gay and lesbian issues, said
Christopher Lane, who will be the coordinator of UWM's program.
The program would award students a certificate after
completing 18 credits, or the classes could be taken as
electives, Lane said. A certificate is similar to getting a
minor in a field of study, but requires fewer credits.
The program was approved unanimously last week by the UWM
Academic Program and Curriculum Committee.
It still needs the approval of UWM Vice Chancellor of
Academic Affairs Kenneth L. Watters and the UW System
administration in Madison.
Watters said he may have some questions about the program's
curriculum, but he is not opposed to the idea of a certificate
program in gay and lesbian studies.
The program could be created without action by the UW Board
of Regents, Watters said.
The program would start with an introductory course, Land
said. More advanced courses would be added later.
Lane, an assistant professor in the English and comparative
Literature Department, said he expected little difficulty in
winning final approval of the program.
Lane also said he hopes there would be enough student
interest to eventually expand the program into a major course of
study.
Lane said he knows of only two undergraduate gay studies
programs in the country -- one at Cornell University in Ithaca,
N.Y., and the other at San Francisco State University. A few
other universities have graduate programs, he said.
UWM's program would be developed out of existing courses that
deal with hay and lesbian issues, Lane said.
"We're not simply inventing gay and lesbian studies out of
thin air," he said.
Lane said the program "also is symbolic in the sense that it
validates the presence of gays on campus."
That's the problem with the program, according to one
outspoken critic on campus.
David Mulroy, chairman of the UWM Classics Department, said
the development of the program is a political power play by a
special interest group.
"I find it hard to believe that the hay angle on different
subjects really adds up to an academic discipline," Mulroy said.
"It is obviously based on the interests of a political interest
group."
The Afro-American Studies major and Women's Studies
certificate programs are misguided for the same reasons, Mulroy
said.
"The slant of their courses is to bolster the self-esteem of
their constituents," Mulroy said. "That's their problem....
Their objectivity is compromised."
Mulroy said he is not suggesting gay and lesbian issues
aren't important -- only that they do not constitute an academic
discipline.
Mulroy said he teaches the ancient Greek poetry of Sappho, a
lesbian who addressed her love poems to other women, and her
sexual orientation is clearly an important part of her story.
"In the classics, for years before it was fashionable, we
were teaching that it was not taboo in ancient Greece and Roe to
be homosexual," Mulroy said.
In some cases, the sexual orientation of classic authors and
other historical figures "is as irrelevant as their hair color,"
Mulroy said.
Mulroy said he was not surprised by the administrative and
faculty support for the program.
'It's the affirmative action lobby," Mulroy said. "Women plus
various minorities constitute a majority, and they wield
tremendous power." ##30##
[Homophobe's letter jeering at program]
Morning Mail [Milwaukee Sentinel 03/16/94]
Department of 'Gayology'?
[To the editor:]
Defenders of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's new
certificate in Gay and Lesbian Studies have been pointing out
that it is not a major and does not in theory pertain to a
separate academic discipline.
They say it should be compared instead to an area studies
certificate. If you are interested in Scandinavia, for example,
you can earn a certificate in Scandinavian studies, which
involves courses in separate disciplines that touch on
Scandinavia.
The problem is that the Gay and Lesbian Studies Program is
being pushed for highly political motives. To its founders, a
certificate program is just a beachhead. Next will come a major
and then a separate department.
The scenario is not as farfetched as it sounds. UWM's
Department of Afro-American studies is currently in the process
of changing its name to the Department of "Africology."
Accompanying literature describes Africology as a separate
discipline, which is "prior to philosophy."
Mark my words, "Gayology" is just around the corner.
David Mulroy / Classics Department / University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
##30##